The destruction of the Huguenots was one of
the greatest crimes ever committed against humanity. The French
Protestants, who contributed so much to the prosperity of
their country, were murdered in their tens of thousands for
both political and religious reasons, but mainly due to the
fact that the majority Roman Catholic church had found it
impossible to tolerate the presence of such a large non-conformist
religious minority in the country.
There were many persecutions of the Protestants in France
following the Reformation, and also periods of relative tranquility
when some measure of freedom was accorded to the Huguenots
to worship according to their conscience.
Atrocities against the Huguenots included the notorious slaughter
on the eve of St. Bartholomew's Day, and it all culminated
in the expulsion of most Protestants following the revocation
of the Edict of Nantes which had respected the rights of the
minority.
The Huguenots left in the 1680s to find refuge in England,
Ireland, South Africa, Holland, and many other countries,
and these nations were to benefit enormously from the talents
of the evicted French Protestants. Ulster was one of the places
which had every reason to be greateful to the Huguenots, who
played such a decisive part in the development of the linen
industry in the Lisburn and Lagan Valley areas.
Dublin also prospered in many ways, and for years the leading
goldsmiths and jewellers in that city were Huguenots or their
descendants.
Nottingham's lace industry owed a lot to the Huguenots, and
of course the east end of London was a haven for thousands
of these people who fled the persecution in their own country.
The greatest Protestant stronghold in France was the fortified
seaport of La Rochelle, and it was an example of the hard
work and the industry of this highly talented people. La Rochelle
was unique in the fact that it was a Protestant town in the
country mainly Roman Catholic.
A recent 'Sunday Times' article paid tribute to the Huguenot
influence in La Rochelle and said the town still has an extremely
prosperous and attractive appearance, proof of the Protestant
influence.
The article also made the point that the citizens of La Rochelle
to this day display an independence of spirit and attitude
which is a legacy from the days when it was a Protestant town.
La Rochelle managed to stay Protestant and independent until
1625 when a lengthy siege ended with its capture. The citizens
resisted bravely and resolutely but the town finally fell
after its population had fallen from 28,000 to 5,000. Starvation
played a major part in its overthrow, as the besieging French
had constructed a great dyke outside the harbour to prevent
ships bringing provisions to the city. It was called 'Richelieu's
Dyke' in honour of the French Cardinal who was noted for his
talents as a political manipulator, as well as being a leading
persecutor of the Huguenots.
The fall of La Rochelle was the greatest defeat to befall
the Huguenots and its loss was a disaster from every point
of view. The large Huguenot presence was to last another 50
years, but historians have often pinpointed the loss of La
Rochelle as a defining moment in the story of the Protestants
in post-Reformation France.
Today a crime of this magnitude would see humanitarian bodies
appointed by the United Nations, the European Community, or
some other commission, but no such organisation existed in
the Europe of the 1680s and so the destruction of the French
Huguenots was unpunished. The Huguenots diaspora has not completely
erased this great people, and in South Africa for instance
there are large vineyards owned by descendants of the Huguenots
- one near Cape Town is appropriately called La Rochelle.
France was to pay a heavy price for the cruelty and the persecution
accorded to the Huguenots. A century later, in 1789 the French
Revolution was to sweep from power the aristocrats and royalty
whose ancestors had persecuted the Protestants.
The power of the Roman Catholic Church in France was also
badly dented, and one of the main reasons for the fearsome
revolution and transformation of French society was the absence
of the large middle class with a social conscience which had
been provided by the Huguenots.
Their destruction and expulsion left only two classes in
France - the selfish and greedy Establishment and the poor
who lived in grinding poverty. The Huguenots could have provided
the stability and the caring attitude which French needed
at that time and in their absence there was nothing to act
as a buffer between the extremes of rich and poor.
And ironically the Huguenots would have been only too happy
to have done their duty in this respect, as they were a very
patriotic people, providing France with many of its greatest
statesmen and soldiers.
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